Sell-Off at 730 Park

The dissolution of the marriage between investor and art collector Adam Lindemann and his socialite wife, Elizabeth, has already played out in the gossip columns.

The next bit of tidying-up: the prewar co-op the couple shared at 730 Park Avenue. During the first week of 2006, Serena Boardman and Brucie Boalt, of Sotheby’s International Realty, listed the spread for $21 million.

Ms. Boardman declined to comment on the listing.

Mr. Lindemann is reportedly snug in a midtown apartment with his girlfriend, Amalia Dayan, the granddaughter of the late Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan, and numerous contemporary art works scattered about. Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons are on hand; particularly eye-catching, however, is Mr. Hirst’s The Sleep of Reason—a large medicine cabinet formerly housed in the artist’s shuttered London restaurant—which now has pride of place in Mr. Lindemann’s new living room.

The couple’s old place is a real sprawl, with five bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms; two staff rooms; two powder rooms; an eat-in, windowed kitchen; and three fireplaces.

Mr. Lindemann and his siblings, children of George—of pharmaceutical then cell-phone-fortune fame—are no strangers to real estate and pricy hobbies like horse racing and art collecting.

Mr. Lindemann himself is an authority on the topic of building contemporary-art collections, and is writing a book on the subject for Taschen.

In 2000, his sister Sloan Lindemann and her husband, investment banker Roger Barnett, dropped $11.25 million on the English Speaking Union, a 33-foot-wide mansion on East 69th Street.

Unfortunately, instead of grabbing headlines for big real-estate purchases, brother George Jr.—once a champion rider—achieved notoriety in the mid-1990’s after being convicted of insurance fraud in the much-publicized killing of a show horse.

As rare as this opening on 730 Park is, though, the Lindemanns are not the only ones leaving behind the tony building. On Jan. 9, a 10-room apartment—eight floors above the Lindemanns’—came on the market with a $17 million price tag, listed with Kathryn Steinberg, of Edward Lee Cave Inc.

The three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom apartment features a mahogany-paneled library, a private elevator and five terraces. The master suite includes a wood-burning fireplace and a double bath.

And while it’s something of a fluke to have two apartments (both in the A line) open up in the same week, it’s certainly not unheard of on this well-heeled block between 70th and 71st streets—especially in the past couple of months.

On Dec. 1, Democratic fund-raisers Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel signed a contract for a $20 million apartment in the Rosario Candela–designed 720 Park Avenue, as reported in The Observer.

Ten floors below their own luxurious apartment, the five-bedroom spread had been on the market for less than three weeks. Now the power couple—who have thrown parties in their home with attendees such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and New York Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr.—is selling their 17th-floor apartment, currently on the market for slightly above $20 million, listed with Kathleen Sloane, of Brown Harris Stevens.

But that deal left Mr. Price with two Upper East Side residences, both Ms. Getty’s six-story townhouse and a ritzy condo at 838 Fifth Avenue, which he paid $13.7 million for in 2001.

So, toward the end of 2003, Mr. Price first put the 4,500-square-foot spread on the market for $17.9 million. But apparently it did not provide the quick profit like he is accustomed to in the financial world.

Now the full-floor apartment is back on the market with an asking price of $13.5 million, listed with Mercedes Menocal-Gregoire and Sydney Waud, of Stribling & Associates. The three-bedroom apartment includes a library, limestone baths and an eat-in kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances.

Perhaps Mr. Price will have more luck selling the apartment, now that he has reduced the asking price (to $200,000 less than he paid for it).

Another investor, Thomas Sandell, is still trying to flip a recent purchase in the same building, two floors below Mr. Price’s condo.

One year ago, Mr. Sandell purchased a 4,165-square-foot apartment from billionaire widow Lily Safra for $13.6 million; last August, he put it on the market for $19.75 million, listed with Deborah Grubman and Carol Cohen, of the Corcoran Group.

Schnabel Gets Green Light, So Neighbors Take to the Street

In January 2005, several of Julian Schnabel’s neighbors protested outside his West Village studio after the artist (and longtime resident) revealed plans to build a nine-story addition to his red-brick stable building. A year later, protestors again hit the streets, but under different circumstances.

With the financial success of the three Richard Meier towers nearby, and other luxury developments planned for the cobblestone streets, some neighbors started organizing. And on Oct. 11, the City Council approved a down-zoning of the far West Village, whereby future construction would be capped at 100 feet, rather than the previous height limit of 200 feet.

Since construction of Mr. Schnabel’s projected 167-foot-high building had only begun in September, a stop-work order was invoked by the Department of Buildings to determine whether the building was vested—far enough along in the foundation—to be grandfathered in under the old zoning regulations.

After review of evidence, the Department of Buildings lifted the stop-work order on Jan. 10, and construction will continue as originally planned.

“They basically are ignoring the allegations from neighbors of illegal work,” said Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “This is something that affects not just this ruling, but the whole system. Under this system, when you have a rezoning, you have a green light to work illegally in order to beat the clock, to get your foundations done in time.”

On Jan. 17, Mr. Berman and critics of Mr. Schnabel’s project protested outside the department’s offices in lower Manhattan. Although his organization may still raise the issue with the Board of Standards and Appeals, Mr. Berman admits that is “a tough road to hoe.”

Since the agency’s decision, Mr. Schnabel has not made a formal announcement, but his spokesperson provided a statement to The Observer.

“The department conducted a thorough review and concluded that we met all requirements and had completed our foundations on time and in full compliance with the zoning resolution. We are pleased that as a result the department lifted its previously issued stop-work order, allowing us to continue to build the long-planned addition to 360 West 11th Street.

“We are confident the building will make a unique and positive contribution to the character and vitality of the West Village community where the artist has lived for more than 15 years,” continued the spokesperson.

Despite Mr. Schnabel’s contention that he is making a “positive contribution,” his most ardent critic will not give up.

“I know that he has approached people who I know, and who know my organization, to try and get us to drop our opposition to his project,” said Mr. Berman. “But, obviously, we have not.”

Recent Transactions in the Real Estate Market

Greenwich Village

130 Barrow Street

Three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom condo.

Asking: $2.29 million. Selling: $2.375 million.

Charges: $1,120; taxes: $9,600.

Time on the market: one day.

Condo of Brotherly Love A few days before the first open house for this apartment was scheduled to take place, two twentysomething brothers, a composer and a Web designer, made an offer that the sellers could not refuse—$85,000 over asking! “When you price an apartment at the right price, it moves,” said broker Steve Cohen, of the Corcoran Group. Mr. Cohen represented the sellers, longtime city-dwellers who are moving to the suburbs. Although the deal was a “win-win for everyone” involved (can we ban that phrase?), there were inevitably some losers: Mr. Cohen had the unfortunate duty of telling a dozen other prospective buyers that the open house was cancelled. The 1,500-square-foot duplex penthouse has hardwood floors, two wood-burning fireplaces, oversized windows and top-of-the-line appliances. The master suite includes a skylight, fireplace and plenty of closet space. And like any normal brothers, expect them to fight it out for the larger bedroom.